Cold Barrel - 1st shot in real life?

[Nando Aqui]

Numerous times I have read about shooters using the first shot to warm up the barrel to avoid any inaccuracy due to a cold barrel as when sighting in a rifle or determining its inherent accuracy.

My question then:
The first shot likely will be, or may have been, the only one available for difficult, long shots as when hunting in the winter, or perhaps for a sniper in WW2 in Stalingrad. How does (did) the rifleman compensate for the cold barrel effect? Does a cold barrel always affect the first shot the same way, and therefore, could the effect be predicted?

I have experienced this situation as when shooting my Rem-700 PS at the range. It seems that the first shot of my first 4-shot group always (well... usually) is the loner, and the following three shots and the subsequent four-shot groups are tighter. In the accompanying picture, the shot on the right was the first shot. However, in my case, that 'first shot' can be anywhere.

Alex

 

[Art Eatman]

I've always been more of a hunter than a target-shooter.

I do my three-shot-group thing for sight-in, wanting the group center from my '06 to be 2" high at 100 yards.

I then check the point of impact for the first shot from a cold and clean barrel. After the barrel is back to ambient, I check the point of impact from a cold but once-fired barrel. I then fire a three-shot group to see whether there is a variance.

So far, with "Old Pet", I've been lucky. It just doesn't seem to care.

One of my father's Springfield sporters always hits 2" high at 100 yards for the first shot. The next gazillion all go into a proper point of impact. The problem persisted after a full rebedding, and after re-barrelling. Dangfino.

Art

 

[Soap]

I know people who "foul" the barrel before hunting season. This is after you clean it, you fire a few rounds through it just to get it slightly dirty again. Does anyone know more about this?

 

[Lastryghts]

I've heard from a lot of hunters up here that "foul' their barrels up here so I did a little exparamenting last fall. Took my Rem 700 .3006 out to the out door rang a couple consecutive weekends(we were working on the cabin) It was about 45 degrees each weekend. First weekend Claen barel first shot way off next three dead center. Second weekend shot all four rounds dead center after only oiling the barrel. Cleaned barrel and had the same results on week three as week one. Ran thirty rounds third weekend and oiled the barrel again. Week four shots everywhere. So from my experiance it is better to shoot a couple of rounds through a clean barrel and oil it then to start out with a clean one for hunting. This confusses me because all the oldtimers that I hunt with have always told me that any debris(lead or unburned powder) will affect the terjectory of the round. Just my experance hope it helps.

 

[C.R.Sam]

Target....
Where allowed I put a few into the berm before moving to the sighters.
If not allowed, I shoot more sighters.

Hunting weapon...
I try to dial gun/ammo so the first three from clean n cold go pretty close to where I was shootin.

Meat huntin....longest shot on big game in bout 60 years just a little over 100yds. Never liked trackin n packin.

Pdawgs n ground squirrels nuther story and different guns usually.

Sam

 

[Steve Smith]

Well...

A good rifle, good ammo, and a hard holder can make the difference too. I've tested my comp rifles at 7 am at 50 degrees, with a cold barrel shot at 600 yards. Target came back up with an X. Same zero I use in the afternoon sun, even in the middle of a string.

FWIW, I never shoot a match with a clean barrel, and my results don't reflect what you will typically see from hunting style rifles.

 

[Art Eatman]

Daniel, I don't guess I've ever fired more than the one fouling shot. Just didn't have to. But I've always been a believer in a fouling shot; more if tests such as Lastryghts' prove it beneficial.

Living and hunting in dry country, I check the barrel regularly--but if it's shiny I leave it alone during hunting season. (Rainy weather changes that equation, of course.)

Art

 

[sm]

Well, been lax on my rifle skills.
As a rule I stoppped cleaning bbls years ago, target or hunting rifles. 1st shot usually did its job if I did mine. After rain, and had to clean I always fouled the bbl. I don't live in a dry enviroment per se'. Paid attn to chamber tho'. Got a feel for the 1st 3 rds , load gun liked and the critter being sought. But I used open sights , didn't care for packin' and draggin' either, no scope rationalizes distance.

 

[riverdog]

The last time I sighted in my rifle I did it cold, two shot strings and then I let it go cold before continuing. The idea was to get a cold zero. Once the gun is zeroed cold, clean it and see if it makes a significant difference in POI.

 

[Soap]

Art- Thanks for the info. Being the curious sort I am, I'll have to try and see if it works for me. In my experience shooting .22s indoors, it seemed to me that after a cleaning, the gun wouldn't settle back in for at least 10 rounds. I'll try it with my centerfires and see if this holds true.

 

[THA]

The research I have seen has nothing to do with temperature. It is the first shot down an oiled bbl, even if you remove as much oil as possible. I have noted on my accurate guns that if I don't clean they have the same point of impact. Only first (fouling shot) after cleaning is off and usually just low.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Something to understand is that the cold shot first shot is not necessarily less accurate than other shots. It is just being fired with the gun in a different condition. This is over-simplified, but consider that there are two points of aim. The first is from a cold and clean barrel and the second is from a warm and dirty barrel. If you want to hit the same spot every time, then ideally you will shoot with the barrel in the same condition every time. Benchrest rifle shooters in some meets will attempt to make every shot a cold and clean barrel shot by cleaning the barrel between every shot. In that manner, all of the shots are fired from a gun in the same condition. So first shot flyers are not necessarily inaccurate shots. They are just shots that go where the barrel is not sighted when it has been sighted warm and dirty.

THA notes that temp has nothing to do with the issue. I have no idea if that is right or not. Maybe it is just the fouling that is the issue. For the benchrest rifle shooters, that would hold as well. Every shot becomes a fouling shot in a clean barrel, hence the consistency.